Taco Bell: Shell licker will be fired

A Taco Bell employee is seen licking a stack of Cool Ranch taco shells in a photo that went viral in the social media world.

Taco Bell went on the offensive Tuesday as the company tried to defuse a social media frenzy ignited by a viral Internet photo that captures an employee licking a stack of Cool Ranch tacos.

The photo, which emerged Sunday on the Internet, shows a young worker balancing some 30 shells and taking a tongue swipe across several of them. Throngs of people on Twitter and Facebook immediately began sharing the image, putting the Irvine-based chain's food safety standards into question.

Taco Bell, coming off one of its best financial years, told its 10 million Facebook followers that it had "zero tolerance" for this type of behavior.

"We believe this is a prank and the food was not served to customers. We are conducting an investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved," the company said when it first learned about the picture.

New details emerged Tuesday as Taco Bell made good on its promise to launch a probe.

The photo was taken in early March at a Ridgecrest Taco Bell restaurant as part of a company photo contest. Employees were asked to capture their first bite of a Cool Ranch taco, the second flavor to launch in the chain's successful Doritos Locos Tacos line. The taco debuted March 7.

"Two employees, however, used them [the tacos] to take a photo for an internal contest in which company and franchise employees could submit for approval photos of themselves enjoying their first bite of the product. The contest had clear guidelines about what was acceptable and unacceptable. This image was clearly unacceptable – it violated the rules and spirit of the contest, and the employees never submitted it," Taco Bell stated on its website.

An employee posted the photo on Facebook, in violation of company policy. From there, it went viral, Taco Bell said."We do not believe these employees harmed, or intended to harm, anyone. But we deplore the impressions this has caused to our customers, fans, franchisees, and team members. The behavior is unacceptable for people working in a restaurant," the company said.

Taco Bell said the shells, used for Training purposes only, were "absolutely not" sold to customers.

"The taco shells were sent to restaurants for training purposes before the new product launch, so team members could use them to practice making the new product before it became available to the public. These shells were a part of that training, were never intended to be served to customers, and were discarded. This is standard operating procedure, and our franchisee confirmed this protocol."

The employee in the photo is in the process of being terminated, Taco Bell said. The employee who took the photo no longer works at the restaurant.

"As we complete our investigation we will work with our franchisee to implement any additional action we find appropriate to address this situation and ensure it never happens again," Taco Bell said.

Ira Kalb, a USC Marketing professor and branding expert who has written about Taco Bell's public relations strategies, said the photo's rapid spread could be particularly problematic for the company because the chain's customers are likely to be heavy users of social media.

"It could hurt them pretty badly," he said. "There's no way you can turn that image off in your brain."

Kalb said Taco Bell and other companies facing such problems should try to address the controversies head-on and turn a potentially negative situation into a positive. For instance, Taco Bell could use the opportunity to highlight its food safety guidelines and inspection procedures, Kalb said.

A Taco Bell employee is seen licking a stack of Cool Ranch taco shells in a photo that went viral in the social media world.
Cool Ranch tacos launched March 7. The Cool Ranch shells, the next flavor in the Doritos Locos Tacos line, were the shells licked by a California Taco Bell employee in a photo that has gone viral over the last few days. NANCY LUNA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Doritos tacos are the most successful product launch in Taco Bell's history. FILE: JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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